Venturing into town every day from among the southern Swedish forests where his apartment nestled, Alfie Whiteman relished the chance to branch out and play regular top-flight football during his loan spell at Degerfors.
Having made his competitive debut for us against Ludogorets in the Europa League last year, our home-grown goalkeeper joined the newly-promoted Allsvenskan side in August for the second half of the Swedish campaign, playing 13 consecutive games as they battled to avoid an immediate drop back to the second tier.
That goal was ultimately achieved on a thrilling final day of the season earlier this month as a 1-0 victory over Ostersunds, coupled with a goalless draw for rivals Halmstad at champions Malmo, made sure of their safety. The remarkable story of the club’s survival in their first top-flight campaign since 1997 was captured by Swedish national television, with an eight-part documentary due to be aired in the New Year.
Unfortunately, an injury picked up in training the day before that dramatic finale meant Alfie was only fit enough for a place on the bench at Jämtkraft Arena. But having established himself as a key member of his club’s squad, the 23-year-old was still able to celebrate a terrific achievement with his team-mates on the nine-hour coach journey back to Degerfors after the game.
“You could feel among the town, the team and everyone involved with the club, just how much it meant to them. It’s a small town but everyone there just lives for the football club, so it was an amazing thing to be part of,” said Alfie, who has now returned to London and reported back to Hotspur Way. “I got injured in training the day before the Ostersunds game, we had a long coach journey and there was hope that I’d be fit for the game so I travelled, but that night and into the next morning, it was decided that I wasn’t fit enough to play, but they still needed me to sit on the bench because they had no other keeper. It was a real shame that I didn’t get to play that last game, but we dominated, we missed a lot of chances and our keeper wasn’t too busy in the end.
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